Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Cabezon and Red Irish LordYesterday’s item about the Red Irish Lord brought the following reply from David Todd: “I think your Red Irish Lord is actually a juvenile Cabezon (I blame Nature Diver :).) Cabezon have those distinctive cirri behind the eyes, are much bigger (the largest of our sculpins,) and tend to ram divers while protecting their nests. This is a picture I took of a Red Irish Lord in the San Juans. RILs have the distinctive "racetrack" band of scales around their dorsal fin." Hmm, thanks, David.

Juvenile capezon [NatureDiver.Com]

AG Ferguson threatens to sue federal government over oil drilling off Washington’s coast State Attorney General Bob Ferguson says he will file a lawsuit if the Interior Department tries to open Washington offshore waters to oil and gas exploration. Ferguson, in a letter sent Monday to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, called the proposed lease sales “unlawful, unsafe and harmful to the economy,” and said that “an array of federal laws” counsel against such action. The Interior Department was scheduled to hold a public meeting Monday about the proposal at the Landmark Convention Center in Tacoma. But that meeting was abruptly canceled by the convention center over the weekend amid plans for a protest rally by those opposed to such lease sales. Interior Department officials said the meeting will be rescheduled. (Seattle Times)

Civil disobedience an option in Trans Mountain pipeline dispute, says Burnaby South MP
The relationship between the Alberta and B.C. governments has been strained in recent weeks as the two sides battle over a proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. B.C. Premier John Horgan has said his province will restrict increased shipments of Alberta bitumen, while Alberta Premier Rachel Notley insists this province will suspend talks of buying electricity from B.C., arguing the expansion must go ahead for the good of this province — and the country. Starting in Edmonton, the pipeline route runs southwest through Jasper and Kamloops, ending at Burard Inlet, near the riding of Burnaby-South MP Kennedy Stewart. Dave Dormer reports. (CBC) See also: As Alberta and B.C. go to war over Kinder Morgan oil pipeline, politicians are worried about jobs — their own - (CBC)

Port truck drivers organize walkout as clean-air legislation looms
Short-haul truck drivers who pick up and deliver containers at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma are organizing a walkout Tuesday to protest a proposed April 1 deadline restricting port access to allow only newer, cleaner-burning diesel trucks. Independent drivers who own their trucks and contract for work one load at a time say the cost of upgrading to cleaner vehicles will put many of them out of business. The drivers are mostly immigrants from East Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, according to the Northwest Seaport Alliance, an agency formed in 2015 to merge the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. Flyer encourages independent drivers to join the walkout and voice personal financial concerns. A flyer distributed late last week calls on independent drivers to attend a meeting of commissioners from both ports Tuesday. At the meeting, Seaport Alliance commissioners are set to decide whether to adopt the new April 1 deadline for their self-imposed, decade-old commitment to cleaner-burning trucks. Julie Davidow reports. (Investigate West)

This Mutant Crayfish Clones Itself, and It’s Taking Over Europe
Frank Lyko, a biologist at the German Cancer Research Center, studies the six-inch-long marbled crayfish. Finding specimens is easy: Dr. Lyko can buy the crayfish at pet stores in Germany, or he can head with colleagues to a nearby lake…. Over the past five years, Dr. Lyko and his colleagues have sequenced the genomes of marbled crayfish. In a study published on Monday, the researchers demonstrate that the marble crayfish, while common, is one of the most remarkable species known to science. Before about 25 years ago, the species simply did not exist. A single drastic mutation in a single crayfish produced the marbled crayfish in an instant. The mutation made it possible for the creature to clone itself, and now it has spread across much of Europe and gained a toehold on other continents. In Madagascar, where it arrived about 2007, it now numbers in the millions and threatens native crayfish. Carl Zimmer reports. (NY Times)

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